Lot 21
Probably Italian, 17th century
A Leaf from an Antiphonary with Text from Exultet Orbis Gaudiis
6 – 16 April 2025, 12:00 EDT
Online, Skinner Marlborough, MassachusettsSold for US$640 inc. premium
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Carly Babione
Department Director
Probably Italian, 17th century
A Leaf from an Antiphonary with Text from Exultet Orbis Gaudiis
illuminated manuscript
a single two-sided leaf, written in gothic Textura script, with five lines of text and square-notation music on five-line staves on each side, with a large decorated red-and-green (recto) and red-and-blue (verso) initial 'A' in the upper left
sheet size 54.0 x 39.0 cm (21 x 15 in).
framed 69.0 x 55.0 x 2.5 cm (27 x 21 1/2 x 1/2 in).
illuminated manuscript
a single two-sided leaf, written in gothic Textura script, with five lines of text and square-notation music on five-line staves on each side, with a large decorated red-and-green (recto) and red-and-blue (verso) initial 'A' in the upper left
sheet size 54.0 x 39.0 cm (21 x 15 in).
framed 69.0 x 55.0 x 2.5 cm (27 x 21 1/2 x 1/2 in).
Footnotes
N.B.
When it was first created in the 10th century, the title of this hymn was Exultet Coelum Laudibus (Let the Round World with Songs Rejoice). It was only in 1632, at the direction of Pope Urban VIII, that the hymn's opening line was changed to Exultet Orbis Gaudiis (Let the Earth Resound with Joy). This hymn was not the only one to fall victim to Urban VIII's ill-advised revisions, which he conducted under the belief - also held, but not successfully acted upon, by some prior popes - that modern reworking could improve the centuries-old Latin texts. Urban's own identity as a poet and intellectual led him to become personally involved in this rewriting. All told, Urban and his assistants made 952 changes to the 98 hymns of the Roman Breviary, including Exultet Coelum Laudibus; many of these revisions have since been undone and the hymns restored to their original forms by the Roman Catholic Church.
OVERALL CONDITION: The sheet is adhered by all four edges to the mat and is not laid down. There are holes in the lower center and lower right. There is scattered fading to the ink on both sides and prominent soiling, rippling, and cockling throughout.
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